1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid absorption member and a printer including the liquid absorption member.
2. Related Art
In general, for example, a waste liquid tank which stores ink discharged from a print head is provided in a printer. There are many types including a liquid absorption member which retains the ink in the inner portion of the waste liquid tank. As the liquid absorption member, for example, there are liquid absorption members disclosed in JP-A-2000-135797 and JP-A-2008-213467. In JP-A-2000-135797, a liquid absorption member in which synthetic fiber sheets are configured so as to be laminated to one another in layers is disclosed, and in JP-A-2008-213467, a liquid absorption member in which porous materials having lower density than the substrate sheet are fitted is disclosed.
However, in recent years, in printers, there has been a printer of the type which uses a pigment ink. Compared to a dye ink which uses dye, generally, permeability and diffusibility of the pigment ink with respect to a liquid absorption member are more deteriorated. Thereby, when the pigment ink is attached onto the surface of the liquid absorption member, there is a case where some of the attached pigment ink does not permeate into the inner portion and the state where the ink is attached on the surface is maintained. In this case, the pigment ink is solidified on the surface of the liquid absorption member, and there is a problem in that diffusion of the ink is inhibited.
In addition, also in the inner portion of the liquid absorption member, the pigment ink which is held by the liquid absorption member is solidified; accordingly, in some cases, there is a problem in that diffusion of the ink is inhibited. However, even though referring to technologies described in JP-A-2000-135797 and JP-A-2008-213467, it is difficult to secure permeability and diffusibility of the pigment ink.